The
fast food giant, McDonald’s Corporation is facing the third lawsuit from
patrons who contracted hepatitis A
allegedly after eating at its Milan, Illinois locations.

Last
month we wrote about the family of a boy suing McDonald’s for damages and
“other relief,” reported Reuters previously. Now, Kari Fiegel, 33, who contracted
hepatitis A after eating at the restaurant said, “I knew something was wrong,
especially when my daughter also got sick, but I was completely shocked to
learn it was hepatitis A…. I’d never heard of hepatitis being a food-borne
disease,” quoted QCTimes. The lawsuit was filed against the McDonald’s and,
Kevin Murphy, its owner, reported QCTimes, and was filed on behalf of Fiegel
and her daughter, Cayla Matthews, 14.

To date, 31 people have been confirmed sickened with hepatitis
A in this outbreak.

According
to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), hepatitis A is
an acute, contagious liver disease caused by the hepatitis A virus (HAV). The
disease is transmitted by the ingestion of fecal matter or contaminated food
or drinks or from close person-to-person contact. The ingestion can be, says
the CDC, even in microscopic amounts. Such person-to-person contact can occur
when, for instance, an infected person does not wash his or her hands
properly after going to the bathroom and touches other objects or food, the
CDC explained.

Two
McDonald’s food handlers are among those sickened, said Reuters. Citing press
reports, Reuters said that one of the workers who was ill on June 16, was
later diagnosed with hepatitis A. It seems the worker did handle food while
she was infectious, said Reuters.

Hep
A symptoms usually appear anywhere from two-to-six weeks after exposure and
develop over a period of several days and can include fever, fatigue, loss of
appetite, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, dark urine, clay-colored bowel
movements, joint pain, and jaundice. Hep A, while not chronic, can last
anywhere from a few weeks to a few months and, while most people recover with
no long-lasting liver damage, people can feel sick for months. Hep A can
cause liver failure and even death in people over the age of 50 or in those
with other liver diseases, such as hepatitis B or C.

We
recently wrote that personal injury attorneys in Illinois are working on a
class action suit that involves one man—Cody Patterson—and thousands of other
potential plaintiffs who ate at McDonald’s in Milan, according to Justice
News Flash.

QCTimes
said over 5,000 people were vaccinated against hepatitis A at clinics put
together by the county health department. Reuters said over 10,000 people may
have been exposed based on traffic information for the two establishments
involved.

The
two Milan McDonald’s were closed on July 15 by the Rock Island County Health
Department for health official inspection and cleaning, reported the Denver
Post previously; both sites reopened on July 18. A recently completed
investigation conducted by the Rock Island County Sheriff’s Department
revealed that the Trinity Regional Health System and the Metropolitan Medical
Laboratory did not report the cases in a timely manner, as is mandated by
law, according to QCTimes.

Justice News Flash previously pointed out that when
patrons fall ill because a restaurant owner fails to maintain “a safe and
healthy working environment, as required by state and federal health laws,”
those patrons may be entitled to compensation for damages and injuries,
including physician visits, hospital stays, medications, and lost income, to
name some.